Khartoum, April 24 (IANS) Several countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan’s capital as fierce fighting continues to rage in Khartoum.
The US and UK announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country, while France, Germany, Italy and Spain have said that they are also organising evacuations, according to a BBC report.
Two Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft are currently positioned on standby in Jeddah while INS Sumedha has also reached Port Sudan to evacuate Indians from war-torn Sudan. “We are closely monitoring the complex and evolving security situation in Sudan. We are also coordinating closely with various partners for the safe movement of those Indians who are stranded in Sudan and would like to be evacuated,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.
US authorities said they had airlifted fewer than 100 people with three Chinook helicopters on Sunday morning in a “fast and clean” operation.
The UK government managed to airlift British diplomats and their families out of the country in what was described as a “complex and rapid” operation. Foreign Minister James Cleverly said options to evacuate the remaining British nationals in Sudan were “severely limited”, the British broadcaster reported.
Egypt has evacuated 436 Egyptian citizens from Sudan.
Iraq has announced that it succeeded in evacuating 14 Iraqi citizens from Khartoum to a safe place in the Port Sudan area. “We continue our efforts to evacuate the remaining individuals,” the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that more than 150 people, including foreign diplomats and officials, have been rescued from Sudan and have arrived in Jeddah.
As many as 91 Saudi citizens and around 66 nationals from 12 other countries including India were evacuated from Sudan in the operation that was carried out by the Saudi Arabia’s naval forces with the support of other branches of the army.
Citizens from Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philipines, Canada and Burkina Faso have also been evacuated.
Clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue in the capital Khartoum and adjoining cities for the ninth day due to disagreement over the RSF’s integration into the army.
According to Sudan’s health ministry, the deadly clashes have left at least 424 people killed and about 3,730 wounded by Saturday.
–IANS
sha/
